Stories are the cheat code to winning over your audience. Putting the viewer in somebody else’s shoes, conveying your purpose and making them truly feel something – that’s what the best campaigns can do.
But it’s also the reason that directors like Quentin Tarantino are known for being the best in the biz.
No one tells stories quite like QT – so, here’s what you can learn about building a story that keeps audiences enthralled, with a little help from the eccentric director’s catalogue of all-time classics.
Warning: this one might not be PG.
Build the world, put your audience in it
“That’s when you know you’ve found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.”
– Mia, Pulp Fiction
If Tarantino is known for one thing (beyond bleedin’ excessive violence) it’s the powerful characters and worlds he creates. By the time we hit the 15-minute mark, we already care about the people on screen and the world they’re living in.
That’s because the director has given us a front-row seat to watch the life of a character unfold. It’s like we’re in the room and we’re left hanging on their every word.
It’s remarkably difficult to communicate a message in only a matter of seconds, but the best campaigns tell us the integral parts of a story – and let the audience fill in the gaps themselves.
Rewatch the Norwich City FC campaign for World Mental Health Day, for an example.
Humour is your secret weapon
“My hands are registered as lethal weapons. That means we get into a fight, I accidentally kill you? I go to jail.”
“Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight, they go to jail. It’s called manslaughter.”
– Bruce Lee, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Emotion is how you win people over. And what’s better than making someone laugh?
Tarantino often uses humour to communicate serious subjects in a way that feels… well, less serious. That could be the emancipation of Django, killing off a few of the Manson tribe or chopping off a naughty hostage’s ear.
But more importantly, humour can also be a great vehicle for just having some fun and doing something a little bit unexpected.
Rib tickling campaigns in years gone by include Old Spice, Cadburys (both eyebrows and drumming gorilla) and Snickers.
What do they all mean? Who knows. But we remember them.
Change history – literally
“Say “Auf Wiedersehen” to your Nazi balls!”
– Hugo Stiglitz, Inglorious Basterds
Kill Hitler, save Sharon Tate. That’s a pretty good trade, we think. Creative storytelling allows you to rewrite history, change the present or imagine a new future.
Tarantino’s storylines are completely wild and are almost entirely the stuff of fiction, but it shows that if you can think it up, you can create it.
Be bold and be brave. Don’t like the way something is? Change it! Your campaign can communicate what your business is doing, the story you’re writing and the impact you’re having on the world.
Check out Nike’s Dream crazy ad that made waves at the time of release.
Off with a bang
“Our mutual friend has a flair for the dramatic.”
– King Schultz, Django
Now, the pièce de résistance. The bangs, the blasts, the blood and guts flying all over the shop.
Quentin Tarantino’s penchant for pulverising and picking off his characters is a cinematic trope that is almost guaranteed when you watch one of his films. Armed with popcorn and an obnoxiously sized fizzy drink, we’re ready and waiting for the inevitable.
In the real world, we’d definitely advise against public demonstrations of violence for your creative campaigns. That’s a given. But… if we can learn something from these standoffs and showdowns, it’s that people respond to a moment of shock and awe.
Campaigns that make people stop and stare, stories they can’t stop reading and videos they can’t take their eyes away from – that’s how you win the battle for attention.
Stuck on a creative cliffhanger?
Your story doesn’t have to end here. If you need help bringing a campaign off the page and into the real world, we would love to be your creative partner.
To find out what we’ve got inside our golden suitcase, just give us a shout.
